>Jesus, David.. Must take every opportunity to post this buillshit? We all
>know how you feel about the Sony. This guy already owns a friggin
>camera.
From the original post, and my response:
"I rented a canon xl1"....
And, "Yes, but at the risk of raising the "XL-1 lovers'" ire yet again...;-)"
You *do* prove my point, below...;-)
>One thing you have to realize is that most of us are happy with the
>fact that all cameras are not alike. Big deal. I have had enough of this
>poop. All this guy needs is to switch his ND filter on and buy a circular
>polarizer. The way you talk one would think you can't shoot anything without
>a PD150.
The ND filter might have been necessary (and the VX2000/
PD150 have two built-in [switchable], but this ***would
not*** have solved the poster's problems with exposure
(and neither would simply adding a polarizer, but it
*might* help). Features of the Sony would have made the
shooting both possible and easier, though... Shooting
snow in varying light, like shooting toward a window
with varying light levels outdoors, is best done in auto
exposure mode with compensation to the AE applied, and
using a camera with less tendency to "blow out" the
highlights and to show oversharpening effects in the
contrasty lighting makes the image quality more
satisfactory, much as this may annoy you...;-)
The poster also said "I [...] wanted to get the highest
quality footage i could acquire for a cross country ski
video." I pointed out the ways that a different choice
of ***rental*** camera could help do this better than the
XL-1. I also pointed out other things that would help
with exposure, including some that can be applied with
the XL-1. This isn't "brand loyalty" or whatever - it is
the observed truth, from experience. If you cannot believe
this, or think no one should point out things that would
be helpful to a poster, then, well, what's the point of
these NGs...? Do try to be more objective about your
"pet" camera, OK? ;-) Your response was asinine, but
expected - some Canon owners have shown the least
objectivity of all in these NGs about gear.
One wonders why...;-)
If you have some solid information/advice, based on
experience and not add-copy/brand-loyalty, then please
do offer that here, instead of the silly comments
you offered above...
>"Neuman - Ruether"
>news:3c87c8fe.2635669@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu...
>> On Mon, 4 Mar 2002 16:51:31 -0500, "Brent Wohlberg"
>>
>> >I rented a canon xl1, and wanted to get the highest quality footage i
>could
>> >acquire for a cross country ski video. I shot a x-country skier in the
>snow
>> >this morning, and had my lighting situations change continually (bright
>sun,
>> >clouds). I would be able to get some definition in the snow, then the
>> >overall shot would be dark. I would have to adjust my f stops until the
>snow
>> >defenition was almost non existant (white) before i could get my skiier
>> >properly exposed. I was getting frustrated because the viewfinder didn't
>> >seem to be co-operating with a true reading. Luckily I brought along a
>> >reference monitor so i could see that i was getting some shitty footage.
>> >Unfortuneately, i couldn't bring the reference monitor with me onto the
>> >trails, so I ended up winging it, and my shots were all over the place
>> >exposure wise.
>> >
>> >I would have the camera set manually, so that the snow was over exposed
>and
>> >the skier looked bright in the viewfinder, then in the next shot, the
>> >exposure would be snaffued, as cloud cover would come in and mess things
>up.
>> >I was trying to make my adjustments on the fly . I was getting frustrated
>as
>> >well at the viewfinder because it wouldn't give me a true reading.
>> >
>> > Question1.
>> > How do I properly expose for Snow and Skier?
>> >
>> >Question2.
>> >How do i keep the lighting constant under these changing lighting
>> >conditions??
>> >
>> > My skiier was wearing bright blue, and yellow.... Any quick
>solutions????
>> Yes, but at the risk of raising the "XL-1 lovers'" ire yet
>> again...;-) The VX2000/PD150 handles the lighter tones
>> better (less "burn-out" due to lower contrast), handles the
>> subtler near-neutral colors better (instead of turning them
>> brown or grey), has a sharper picture, has less "outlining"
>> on contrasty edges (lotsa these in snow-shooting), has
>> better AF, and (maybe most important for you) it permits
>> biasing of the excellent AE in 1/2 stop increments to
>> compensate for things like bright averages that do not
>> represent correct exposure, while still enabling you to
>> use the advantages of AE (you can also take care of color
>> biases and excess/insufficient saturation - as you can
>> also do with the "s" version of the XL-1). These controls
>> are accessed with the small button at the rear base of
>> the handle, and are changed using the wheel at the camera
>> lower left rear corner. BTW, if you use the accessory
>> large eyecup with the VX2000/PD150 and carefully adjust
>> the finder brightness and color level (vx2000) while
>> connected to a monitor for reference, the finder serves
>> as a pretty good guide for exposure (it may need "zeroing
>> in", after a little field experience, though...). You can
>> also set "zebra" levels in the finder for judging
>> overexposure areas... For more on the VX2000/PD150, see:
>> http://www.David-Ruether-Photography.com/sony_dcr-vx2000.htm